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October 21, 2010

Meth Use Among NYC Gays Shifts to Blacks, Latinos, Poor

Methamphetamine, a.k.a. crystal meth, originally garnered popularity in New York City among young, white, educated gay men. However, a study known as Project MUSE shows that the demographics have shifted, reports Perry Halkitis, PhD, in a column in Chelsea Now. The study, done to explore the link between meth and risky behavior, discovered that 70 percent of its sample were black or Latino and more than half reported making less than $10,000 per year, being unemployed or on disability, having no more than a high school education and being HIV positive. “The meth problem here in New York City has not gone away,” Halkitis writes. “It has simply moved to segments of our community that often go unnoticed and underserved.”

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